Los que No Son Gentos has many of the earmarks of Danielle Baquet-Long’s previously released work, regardless of whether it was issued under the Chubby Wolf or Celer names. There are the enigmatic track titles, for one, which suggest stories all by themselves and allude to her poetic endeavours (“Existence is both a Horizon and an Indictment” and “Deeper and the Damage From” are but two representative examples of those included), and the tracks themselves, which threaten to evaporate altogether, so delicate and faint are the ambient wisps of sound that are brought into being. Like the Celer recordings she produced with Will Long, Baquet-Long transmutes a diverse range of source materials—in this case bass guitar, analog synthesizers, bells, voice, and laptop—into sounds of largely uniform and always fragile character. What Los que No Son Gentos also has, of course, is a sense of mystery, as we’ll never know exactly what Baquet-Long intended by the material, given that her tragically premature death on July 8, 2009 from heart failure leaves us with no opportunity to delve into the mind that created the material. Of course, even when she was alive, mystery was a key part of her music, as she didn’t typically elaborate on the meanings associated with the work but instead opted to let it speak for itself and retain that mystery. As was her wont, she left no explanation as to why the album was made nor what its inspiration might have been, but instead moved quickly on to the next project, almost as if she sensed that time was short and that creative work would have to be done with dispatch.

This latest addition to her discography presents fifty minutes of music in an edition of 200 copies. There’s certainly nothing unfinished about the material; its soft, Celer-like swells are as crystalline and cathedralesque as anything she released during her lifetime, and Los que No Son Gentos is a solid collection that sits comfortably alongside her other releases. Though fourteen separate pieces are presented, they play like variations on a theme, with each a subdued meditation of near-transluscent design. Glowing and shimmering placidly, the pieces wash soothingly over the listener, inducing a state of heartbeat-slowing calm as they do so. Baquet-Long lives on in the album, just as she will continue to do so in the future, as Will has promised to continue releasing her unpublished music, writing, and photography into the world, along with the remaining Celer titles the married couple created while she was alive.

Los que No Son Gentos has many of the earmarks of Danielle Baquet-Long’s previously released work, regardless of whether it was issued under the Chubby Wolf or Celer names. There are the enigmatic track titles, for one, which suggest stories all by themselves and allude to her poetic endeavours (“Existence is both a Horizon and an Indictment” and “Deeper and the Damage From” are but two representative examples of those included), and the tracks themselves, which threaten to evaporate altogether, so delicate and faint are the ambient wisps of sound that are brought into being. Like the Celer recordings she produced with Will Long, Baquet-Long transmutes a diverse range of source materials—in this case bass guitar, analog synthesizers, bells, voice, and laptop—into sounds of largely uniform and always fragile character. What Los que No Son Gentos also has, of course, is a sense of mystery, as we’ll never know exactly what Baquet-Long intended by the material, given that her tragically premature death on July 8, 2009 from heart failure leaves us with no opportunity to delve into the mind that created the material. Of course, even when she was alive, mystery was a key part of her music, as she didn’t typically elaborate on the meanings associated with the work but instead opted to let it speak for itself and retain that mystery. As was her wont, she left no explanation as to why the album was made nor what its inspiration might have been, but instead moved quickly on to the next project, almost as if she sensed that time was short and that creative work would have to be done with dispatch.This latest addition to her discography presents fifty minutes of music in an edition of 200 copies. There’s certainly nothing unfinished about the material; its soft, Celer-like swells are as crystalline and cathedralesque as anything she released during her lifetime, and Los que No Son Gentos is a solid collection that sits comfortably alongside her other releases. Though fourteen separate pieces are presented, they play like variations on a theme, with each a subdued meditation of near-transluscent design. Glowing and shimmering placidly, the pieces wash soothingly over the listener, inducing a state of heartbeat-slowing calm as they do so. Baquet-Long lives on in the album, just as she will continue to do so in the future, as Will has promised to continue releasing her unpublished music, writing, and photography into the world, along with the remaining Celer titles the married couple created while she was alive.

Another Celer album has just been released in a highly limited Edition of just 150 copies. The record label for ananlog sound called Analog Path (based in Japan) lately released this album called ‘Menggayakan’ on CDr. More than fifty minutes of field recordings and heavily processed drones – well, that’s just typical for Celer – are delivered in one track with the following chapters: Hatta / Gliding in the Absolute / Circular Square, Exhaust, Anti-American Protest / A Less Representation Of Myself / Masjid Istiqlal / Breathing Effects, and A Lack Of / Mosquito / Feigned Ignorance and Dissimulation / Ultraclimax / The Romance Of Travel / As Ever.

Regarding the complete Celer discography we often find long-form pieces like this. With widely delayed and multilayered drones ‘Menggayakan’ is rich of orchestral parts sometimes appearing with kind of a basinski-esque amount of repetition which has become typical for Celer as well. The different chapters are interrupted by laughter, documentary and other field recordings. As already seen on their ‘Engaged Touches’ album (on Home Normal) the string-laden parts often have a wonderful melancholic or even romantic atmosphere with solemn melodies in the high string sections. And again on ‘Menggayakan’ it takes some time until the sound seems to unfold from the cloudy drones that appear in the first chapters of the piece.

‘Menggayakan’ has been the second release of the newly formed Analog Path label. We should definitely keep this imprint in mind and check their releases regularly as their forthcoming schedule includes some really interesting artists such as René Margraff, Brian Grainger and Stray Ghost. And certainly we shouldn’t stop watching out for new Celer works that are still released constantly. I’m sure that this is not my last Celer review…

‘Chirp’ was originally created as a custom, private album, requested by a Los Angeles native for an in-home installation. The music was created for an art opening at the person’s private home, for a showing of their personal collection of artwork.

Located in the forest, the house completely surrounded by trees, we decided to use only bird sounds for the source material, creating 12 indistinct and varying tracks created entirely from baby bird sounds from a bird nest outside our home studio window. All the sounds were then equalized, the bird chirps being the only remaining sounds. After, we added analog effects, and small touches of processing.

The ideal setting for listening was with two small speakers placed on each side of an open window, and the music played on random repeat, at a low volume. Combined with the natural sounds of birds and the wind from outside the open window, the bird chirps blend in, like small whistling in the afternoon breeze.

The event was held in 2009, and the owner of the house and commissioner of the album has since passed away, so it is being made available now.

Dedicated to the memory of the commissioner (by request remaining anonymous).